所屬名錄: 第三批國家名錄

編號: I-88

申報地區或單位: 山西省盂縣

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Inscribed list: National List, Third Batch

Inventory no.: I-88

Nominating unit(s): Shanxi Province, Yu County

趙氏孤兒傳說，趙氏孤兒是中國著名傳說故事之一。被改編為元代同名雜劇之後，在18世紀被翻譯成其他歐洲語言。

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趙氏孤兒發生在春秋晉國時代。晉靈公在位期間，他與大夫趙盾不和，並欲用計把他除之。趙盾幸運地逃過一劫，晉靈公則被趙的弟弟殺死。新君主繼位後，趙恢復其職務，為晉景公的大夫。但是，作為另一位心腹的大臣屠岸賈，一直對趙盾懷恨在心。於是就誣陷趙盾，令其家族受滅族之災。

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屠殺期間，趙盾之子 — 趙朔囑咐其妻，晉國公主回到王宮後把懷孕中的孩子生下來。趙朔自盡後，孩子亦同時出生了，公主在自盡前把嬰孩交給醫生程嬰。

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殘酷的屠岸賈為了找出趙氏孤兒的下落，對晉城中的嬰兒大開殺戒。程嬰對此尋求公孫杵臼的建議，犧牲公孫的兒子以避開嫌疑。在公孫杵臼及其子死後，程嬰把孤兒收養並把他當作兒子般看待，並取名為趙武。

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後來，病入膏肓的晉景公被告知其疾病為錯殺賢人的結果。大臣韓厥把真相告知晉景公並召見已經長大後的趙武入宮。趙武其後為其家族恢復名位及封地，並把屠岸賈處決，成功為家族報仇。

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趙氏孤兒的傳奇根據春秋時期的資料而成。關於晉靈公及趙盾之間的仇恨均可在左傳. 晉靈公不君的選段中找到，趙盾在晉靈公被殺後被逼背上弒君的罪名。在晉靈公.魯成公八年，概述了趙氏滅族時的情況，並解釋滅族之因則源於叛變家族成員與家族敵對的臣子造成。只有趙武得以倖存。

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事件被收錄在在司馬遷的著作《史記》時，產生了兩個版本。《左傳》敘述的版本就被記錄在《晉世家》中。在春秋文獻中，屠岸賈與程嬰均沒有出現。他們第一次出現在《史記》的《趙世家》中，前者為趙氏家族的罪魁禍首，後者為趙氏孤兒的拯救者及養父，並仍然保留原有的角色及歴史資料。漢代的記錄成為元代戲劇家紀君祥創作雜劇《趙氏孤兒》的文本。此劇亦於1731被來自天主教耶穌會的法籍神父馬若瑟留在中國其間翻譯，把傳說普及至大眾及其他國家。

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The Orphan of Zhao (趙氏孤兒) is a well-known opera work from China, as the first Chinese stage production that was translated into European languages.  The Yuan dynasty Zaju (a form of Chinese opera) adaptation of the story was translated into French in the 18th century.  

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The most well-known version of the story of the Orphan of Zhao is set in the state of Jin, in the Spring and Autumn Period. During the reign of Duke Ling of Jin, the Duke plotted to assassinate Zhao Dun, the Minister of the State, with whom he had a rivalry, as Zhao tried to give constructive advice to the Duke, who was a terrible leader. Zhao later escaped the assassination attempt while the Duke was murdered by Zhao’s brother, in a rebellion movement. After that, Zhao Dun resumed his position as the right-hand man of the Duke’s successor – Duke Jing of Jin. But then, Tu’an Gu, a general and another subordinate of the Emperor, harbored a deep hatred for Zhao out of jealousy, so he decided to frame Zhao Dun for regicide, which lead to the execution of Zhao, and the rest of the Zhao clan. 

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During the mass killings, Zhao Shuo, the son of Zhao Dun, instructed his pregnant wife, who was a princess of the Jin state and therefore temporarily exempted from the execution order of the Zhao clan, to give birth to their child back at the palace.  If the child was a son, she was to do whatever was necessary to save his life. Later, after Zhao Shuo’s death and the birth of his son, the princess escorted the son to one of the trusted allies of the family – Cheung Ying the physician, before committing suicide like her husband did. 

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The merciless Tu threatened to kill all infants under the age of 6 months old, in order to search for the whereabouts of the orphan. Cheung soon sought the support from an elder Minister, Gongsun Chujiu. Both devised a plan to sacrifice the son of Gongsun, which resulted in the death of both Gongsun and his son. Later, Cheung decided to adopt and raise the orphan as his own child, naming him Zhao Wu.

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Later, the ailing Duke Jing of Jin was told by court diviners that his illness was the result of killing the wrong person.  Han Jue, who was a senior minister and a close friend of the Zhao family, then told the truth of events to the Duke. Zhao Wu, who was now grown up, was then summoned to the palace. The Duke allowed the only heir of the Zhao family to restore the reputation and wealth of the Zhao family, and avenge the whole family by executing Tu at the end. 

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The legend of the Orphan of Zhao was based on the historical records from the Spring and Autumn period (771 to 476 BC) . The first written records on the rivalry between Duke Ling of Jin and Zhao Dun can be found in the excerpts of Zuo Zhuan in the section “Jin Linggong bujun” (translated to mean “The Duke Ling of Jin does not follow the rules of a king”), in which Zhao Dun had to bear the false accusations of regicide after the ruler was assassinated. In a later section of Zuo Zhuan, “Lu Chenggong ba nian”, the whole process of the massacre, in contrast to the popular opera version, was not the result of Tu’an Gu (who does not yet appear at this point in historical records), but was the result of the betrayal of family members, and other rival groups. 

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When the story was featured in the Han dynasty Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) by Sima Qian, two versions of the story were recorded. A version similar to the one in Zuo Zhuan was featured in the section "House of Jin" in Records of the Grand Historian. In another section of Records of the Grand Historian, called "House of Zhao," the characters of Tu'an Gu and Cheung Ying are introduced, with Tu’an Gu being the schemer of the whole tragedy, and Cheung Ying being the savior and adoptive father of the orphan. The version from the "House of Zhao" in Shiji eventually became the source material from which the playwright Ji Junchang transformed the story into a folk Opera during the Yuan Dynasty, promoting the tale further to the general public and the rest of the world, with the first translations done by the French Jesuit Missionary, Joseph Henri Prémare in 1731 during his stay in China.